All set up for Christmas

So I have mentioned on the blog before that when the hubby and I started dating (13 years ago) my grandma suggested we buy a Christmas ornament when ever we travel and to get at least one new one each year for the tree.

See this is SUCH a fabulous idea because every ornament on the tree has a story.

But see I am a bad Christmas person. I LOVE Christmas. I LOVE seeing everyone's decorations, I love getting into the spirit I LOVE getting our new ornament every year but I am a little ashamed to admit this......

This is the FIRST TIME IN 7 years (yes all the years we have been married) that I put up a tree **hangs head in shame**

Yes you see I have never "bothered" because of the mess and I am so SORRY I never did! I popped in The Cinderella Story (with Drew Barrymore) and started to decorate.

The before:




And then the after:




I so wish I would have done this forever ago....


Sorry for the bad pictures this one was taken at my mom's house the first year we were dating 1998 (akk I am so old) I remember this picture and if I recall correctly that I was wearing *gasp* overalls! Ugg


And this one is one of my new favorites. I am not sure if you remember our Christmas morning last year? Yeah our furnace caught fire and at 5am Christmas morning and 15 guys from the fire department came out to investigate? You can read about it here?
I just thought the fire dog was a fabulous way to remember that year?



And this one is from Mount Rushmore...

I also realize now that I have dragged everything out that I NEED MORE STUFF!! I need WAY more lights for the tree, and a tree skirt, and a wreath for outside.. the list is endless!

So I totally understand if you want to start collecting a new one each year too... Its so cool! I am getting old though so all the ornaments are marked with dates and placed so my crazy brain can remember where they are from....

Now that the tree is all set up I will show you some more of my fabulous decorations and the stories behind them.

Thank you

So after our scary fire situation all I could think of was "How can I thank the fire dept?"

Soooo I spent the day baking.... And then I went to the fire dept with all my baked goodies to say thank you. One of the fire man that was in my house mentioned that he was on shift for another 24 hours so that got me to thinking about baking, so I made cookies, and cupcakes and a cheese dip and what goes best with cookies and cupcakes?

Hot chocolate..




So when I was all done I drove over to the fire dept (its 2 blocks away) with goodies in tow and it turns out they were switching shifts for the night so there were 6 firemen outside so I pulled up and one of the guys that was in our house was going home and came over to meet me.

I told them thanks.

And they were all modest and said thank you but I did not have to do this...

And I told them.

No I did.

I also have batteries packs that I am leaving on my neighbors doors with notes along the lines of "We had a fire and the fire alarm saved us please check your batteries"

Counting our blessings this Christmas morning...

We woke up to a fire this morning.


At 5am Christmas morning our fire alarms were BLAZING, in the panic of what was going on the minute I heard the fire alarm I could smell the fire.

I shook the husband and we jumped into action, the lights were still out when I got into the hall and saw the flames the fire was coming from the heating unit.

We quickly turned on the lights, switched the breaker and took down the filters (that were about to go up in flames but only had a little burning on them) I had also instinctively closed the bedroom door to make sure Daisy was safe only to notice that I had done it after...

We both wandered around a bit in panic about what to do next. We did not want to call the fire dept because the fire was out. And it was 5am Christmas morning.

We called building management and left a message on the emergency machine about the fire and got a call right back....

At the request of the building management we called the non-emergency fire dept number and they came... lights and sirens BLARING at 5am on Christmas morning with 2 fire trucks FULL of firefighters.

They came in to access the damage and make sure the fire was out. They used infrared to make sure there was no fire still in the ceiling (who knew) I am not going to lie I was scared out of my wits. They said fire can be a scary beast.

Also that our smoke detector was worth its weight in gold.

We had already aired the house out pretty good, but the smell of burning was pretty thick, after everything had settled I had a very good cry.

Yep the hubby and I sat on the couch and I cried. I cried and I was so THANKFUL that it happened the way it did.

I was so thankful our smoke alarm works.

I felt so blessed we were both home.

I was so thankful that it happened so quick and we both reacted as quickly as we did.







We are blessed and so thankful this Christmas in more ways than I could ever explain.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!!!

So excited...

So the hubby left the computer..... But I am going to bring it too him for the weekend. I tried to do some cute pictures of Daisy in a Santa suit but she was not happy with me.... She just sulked and I could not get any cute shots.... So there goes that idea for Christmas cards.
She was so cute this morning she was laying in hubbys side of the bed with her head poking out of the blankets like it was the way she slept every night.

I never knew you could


love a dog so much...

And its obvious she hates me.... lol She was NOT impressed with our little impromptu photo shot and now she is hiding under the bed... She LOVES he new coat and has no problem wearing that... Maybe its because its her first Christmas and shes PISSED that its so cold out and she will not go out any more....